1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a carton feeding system, and more particularly, it pertains to a system for automatically feeding empty cartons to a plurality of packing machines that fill the cartons with a product.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a fruit packing house, packing machines feed fruit, such as oranges or lemons, directly into cartons. Such cartons are obtained in a collapsed condition and must be folded open to form an open-topped rectangular box for receiving the fruit. This may be done by hand, but in many instances a carton set-up machine is used to open the cartons. Such empty cartons must then be fed to the packing machines where they are to be filled.
One carton set-up machine can normally supply cartons at a rate sufficient to satisfy the demand of several packing machines. The carton demand for each packing machine varies with the grade and size of fruit being packed and with the character of the fruit being processed in the packing house. It has been the practice to feed the empty cartons on an overhead conveyor, and packers must manually remove the cartons from the overhead conveyor for selectively feeding to each of the packing machines required.